A fellow blogger, Economically Humble, has proposed a 9-week summer productivity challenge, and I’ve decided to get on board! As you’ve probably gathered by now, from reading my last few posts, I have a busy summer ahead of me, so any chance to help my productivity is welcomed! The goal of the challenge is to list 9 things that I will complete in the next 9 weeks to increase my productivity – so here goes!
Though I started Earth and Money with an inaugural introduction post in mid-February of 2012, March 3rd was the date of the site’s first real post – Air Miles Cash – Deal or No Deal? That means Earth and Money has now been up and running for three full months! When I first started this blog, I wasn’t sure how it would go. Would anyone read the blog? Would I gain any followers? How much work is it really going to be? The results have surprised me in some ways, and not in others. To answer the third question, it has been a lot of work. In March and April, I put a lot into the blog and that led to some really great early success that I have been able to sustain in May. The blog hasn’t really grown much in May, but that is because I have been really limited in the amount of time I have been able to put into the blog, what with all the wedding planning!
But what’s really kept me going are the answers to the first two questions – people really do read the blog and I really do have followers. And so to all those of you who read and follow Earth and Money, I want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE THANK YOU! You are what keep this blog going, and I’m hoping that in the last three months, you have learned something new that you can use in your every day lives.
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The wedding planning continues! Most people book a ‘wedding venue’ and with that, they get all the little details taken care of for them, including all the dishware and glasses that the guests use over the course of the night. But when you’re trying to be frugal in planning a wedding, you have to do all the little things yourself – including buying or renting dishes. Based on the experience we’ve had with this, you can save a lot of money here depending on the decisions you make – paper, plastic or china; rent or buy; one of everything for everyone or get lots of extras. All these decisions can represent vastly different price points, and each decision has an underlying environmental impact to keep in mind.
Planning my own wedding has led me to fully understand the value of hiring a wedding planner. I can’t say I expected it to be so much work. One of the reasons for all the work is that our wedding is also happening on the same day, and in nearly the same location, as a major city festival which attracts thousands of people and will totally be clogging up the area. It did not even occur to me to google the wedding date before booking everything to see what might be a competing interest. We also found out that our wedding officiant has booked another wedding immediately after ours, to the point where if our wedding runs late, we are now affecting someone else’s wedding. I don’t even know what we’re paying our officiant for – the whole wedding officiant business in Ontario is a complete and total racket. Other things I never thought I would think about – how much do people drink, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic? Can I just assume everyone drinks as much as I do? Its going to be a hot day, so we’re assuming people will drink more. But what will people want to drink – pop, juice, water, beer, wine…so many options! Where do you draw the line and just shove whatever you want down people’s throats. You’re drinking juice because I say so! I don’t think that works… I fear I am officially on the verge of becoming groomzilla. I’m one more request away from going Hulk on someone, ripping off my shirt and running down the street yelling “Hulk Angry!”.
At least I get to vent on this blog, right? Last week’s post, Planning a Green Frugal Wedding – Guests, was featured in a number of blog carnivals this week, so everyone gets to read about my agony!
Thanks to all the carnival hosts! I’m not gonna lie, its been a crazy busy week, so I haven’t been reading anything in the blogosphere. But I do want to remind everyone to enter Prairie Eco-Thrifter’s iPad Giveaway! And while you’re there, don’t forget to read all the awesome posts she puts up – one of my favorites is one highlighting where to get inexpensive organic cotton clothing.
Happy Weekend Everyone! Look for two posts next week, I believe I can do it!
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So let’s see…so far I have written about invitations, food and picking the venue. Who knew there was so much effort to put into a wedding? If there is one thing I have learned so far, it’s that trying to plan a wedding while also trying to complete a graduate degree is not for the faint of heart. I understand just a little bit more now how a wedding planner can be well worth the cost.
If there’s one avenue where you can really cut down your costs, it’s the guest list. That seems pretty intuitive actually, so much so that I debated whether it was even worth writing about. At most weddings, there is a fixed cost associated with every guest that attends – food, dishes, venue, all these things are related to the number of guests that you have. So that begs the question – do you really want to invite your dad’s cousin’s nephew’s boyfriend who winds up getting drunk at the open bar?
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